Bullish has finalized an agreement to acquire Equiniti, a leading global transfer agent, from Siris Capital in a transaction valued at $4.2 billion. This strategic acquisition positions the crypto exchange to integrate a major shareholder recordkeeping business as it advances its tokenized securities initiatives. Under the terms announced on Tuesday, Bullish will assume $1.85 billion in existing debt held by Equiniti. The deal is projected to close in January 2027, subject to necessary regulatory approvals, marking a significant consolidation of traditional financial infrastructure within the digital asset ecosystem.

The acquisition grants Bullish the operational capacity to facilitate 24/7 trading of tokenized securities alongside stablecoin-based payment and settlement tools. Equiniti currently services nearly 3,000 companies, including prominent entities such as Berkshire Hathaway and Rolls-Royce. Transfer agents play a critical role in trading venues by managing investor records, issuing ownership certificates, and facilitating dividend payments. Woofun AI notes that this integration directly addresses the operational bottlenecks preventing seamless corporate workflows in the emerging tokenized asset market.

This transaction highlights an intensifying competition between crypto exchanges and traditional market infrastructure firms to develop products supporting continuous trading and instant settlement. The move follows a partnership announced over a month prior between the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and tokenization platform Securitize to build blockchain-based trading infrastructure for Wall Street. That initiative aims to enable the minting of tokenized shares for stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), signaling a broader industry shift toward onchain settlement mechanisms.

Wall Street participants are accelerating their tokenization efforts despite an evolving regulatory landscape in the United States. On January 19, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE, unveiled plans for a tokenized securities venue designed for 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and stablecoin-based funding. Subsequently, on March 18, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Nasdaq's pilot proposal to support the trading of tokenized versions of high-volume stocks and securities, further validating the sector's trajectory.

Tokenized stocks represent traditional company shares minted on a blockchain ledger, offering investors exposure to stock prices with advantages such as 24/7 accessibility and fractional ownership. Major crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken have already launched tokenized stock offerings to capture this growing demand. Data compiled by Woofun AI shows that the value of onchain tokenized stocks increased by 31.4% in the past 30 days, reaching $1.25 billion, while the number of tokenized stock holders grew by 10% during the same period.

Despite this growth, tokenized stocks currently rank as the fifth-largest asset class within the $30 billion tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market. Tokenized US treasury debt leads the sector at $15.2 billion, followed by tokenized commodities at $5 billion, asset-backed credit at $2.5 billion, and tokenized specialty finance products at $1.6 billion. Woofun AI analysis suggests that as infrastructure like Equiniti becomes integrated, the liquidity and utility of tokenized equities may expand to challenge the dominance of treasury-based assets in the coming years.